Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on legal costs related to the under-occupancy penalty.

The Government has incurred approximately £387,155 to date on legal costs associated with judicial review challenges to the under-occupancy penalty.

It should be noted that this figure includes VAT where this is payable (e.g. on Counsel’s fees) and disbursements but does not include costs attributable to the time spent by Government advisory lawyers, as time spent by such advisory lawyers is not recorded in a manner that allows it to be attributed to individual cases. This figure does not include all of Counsel’s fees incurred in relation to the Supreme Court hearing of MA & Others/A and Rutherford v the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (29 February to 2 March) which have not yet been billed.